Galactic date: 14 December, 2 BBY

Location: Kadavo

A spark of light emerged from the horizon. The light rose up slowly, marking the beginning of a new day, new hardship.

Rex was snoring in his shelter when the astromech droid next to him went buzzing without warning. He got up and checked on the droid. "What's the emergency? Zygerrians?" The droid projected the radar scan, indicating the threat of incoming orbital bombardment. "Oh sh..."

Before Rex could finish his sentence, he felt the ground shake violently, but unlike a standard bombing, the shock only lasted for a few seconds. Rex heard a voice coming from outside. It didn't take a genius to figure out the Zygerrians were onto him. Rex stuck his head out the window, only to receive a volley of blaster bolts flying at him.

He ducked and tossed a grenade out the window to cover his escape. The blast managed to take out a few Zygerrians and Rex ran towards an empty speeder lot. Before he could loot one, he noticed more Zygerrians headed for him in all directions.

He ran inside a nearby container and got out of sight just before the Zygerrians got to the parking lot. He peeked outside, and saw a horde of Zygerrians scouting the area with blasters and whips strapped on their hips. He heard a buzz from his comlink and wasted no time to activate it.

"Rex, watch your fire from above. We're coming in." Said a teenager through the comms. Rex instantly knew it was Ezra, some much needed help. "It's good to see you kid. But I'm afraid the slaves I freed aren't enough to cover our escape. We'll need..." Ezra interrupted him before the clone could finish. "Don't worry, I've brought some friends."

Rex stared up, and saw the sight of Ezra leading Sabine and a squad of Mandalorians rappelling down and taking out every Zygerrian in their path. A few dozens of Mandalorian jetpackers soon joined the fight, and Rex was finally able to catch his breath.

"Man, are you a sight for sore eyes!" Rex complimented. "Thank me later. They'll start raining bombs on this place any moment! We have to get out of here. Where's Zeb and Kanan?" Asked Ezra.

"We got separated. Zeb was captured and I lost contact with General Jarrus. I'm sorry." Ezra sighed in defeat and wore his helmet. "Never mind. But we have to find them soon. We'll start off once we get back to the fleet."

Ezra and the rest of the people ran, gunning down Zygerrians as they proceeded to the landing pad. The Ghost and several Gauntlet fighters were already waiting there, engines running and ready to fly at any moment.

"C'mon c'mon! Get in!" Hera exclaimed. Ezra, Rex, Sabine and four other Mandalorians got aboard the Ghost and the rest went to their designated fighters. Soon, the convoy lifted off and headed towards the atmosphere.

"Alright everyone hang on! Incoming TIEs!" Yelled Hera. Rex instantly sprinted to the nearest turret while Ezra activated his comms to contact Sabine and the Mandos. "You guys better strap on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!"

Ezra manned the nose turret and fired on an incoming TIE. It dodged the fire, but was blew up by Rex. Ezra rotated the guns and shot down another TIE. Soon, the ship's hyperdrive was ready and the convoy disappeared in a flash.

"Do you mind telling me why are there four extra guests on our ship?" Asked Hera. She remembered she had quite a bad history with the Mandalorians, not to mention she was almost blown to bits by a Mandalorian pilot last year. "We made some new friends, and they seem pretty eager to help. They've been stuck on Concordia for too long." Answered Ezra.

"Right. I'm not sure about the timing, but I'll say you better talk to Sabine. She's your girlfriend after all." Said Hera jokingly. "By the way, where's Kanan and Zeb? I don't see them anywhere." She continued.

"They're captured. We're gonna have to bust in another prison." Sighed Ezra. This wasn't the first time his master was lost to the Empire, and he was determined to put a stop on losing another one of his friends.

He walked up to the cabins and heard a familiar sound: the hiss of Sabine's spray paint. He looked inside, a saw a picture of an armored soldier running and firing a disruptor. He didn't take long to figure out who that soldier was: himself.

"Wow. That's...that's..." Ezra stammered. Sabine didn't say a word. Instead, she threw her arms around Ezra and kissed him gently. "Thank you, Ezra..." She panted slightly before finishing her sentence. "...thank you."

"Ezra, I need to talk to you about..." Jaden stopped in his tracks when he saw his sister kissing Ezra in front of him. His mouth opened wide, but his surprise was soon replaced by a grin on his face. "Congratulations Ezra." He thought.

Ezra broke the kiss and turned at Jaden, "Yeah?" he asked. "...about uh...never mind, just come with me." Ezra followed Jaden to the nose turret and plopped down on the seat. "It must be rough for you to take on the whole galaxy at such a young age yourself." Said Jaden.

"So the reason you called me in such a hurry was to talk about my life?" Ezra laughed. He never thought his old friend would suddenly want to talk about his history. "I've heard about your past, I'm sorry." Jaden sighed. "Don't be. I never was a good person anyway."

"Hardly. If I know one thing about you, you always spend time thinking of others and too little of yourself." Said Jaden. Ezra breathed heavily before saying another word, "Maybe, but I have to. Sometimes these things happen if I don't." Jaden knew well he was referring to the abduction of his master and the team's muscle. He placed his hand on Ezra's shoulder and said. "We'll be on your side. No matter what."

Several days later...

Ezra headed to the nose turret of the Ghost and rested there. He and the clones have just taken down another slave syndicate and captured an imperial astromech, and technicians are working day and night to dig out intelligence from it. Now he just had to wait for a answer.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around, it wasn't anyone else, it was Sabine. "You okay?" She asked. Ezra nodded slightly. "Just thinking of the moment when we first met. You pulled me down and um...you know what happened next." He smirked. "Wish we were talking under better circumstances."

"Don't get sunk in the past dear." Said Sabine. They were interrupted by the sound of Ezra's comlink. "Any word on Kanan and Zeb?" He asked. "Still nothing on general Jarrus yet. But we just confirmed captain Orrelios is imprisoned on Teth." Replied the other side. "Alright. I'll be up on the bridge in a moment."